Orange Bowl Deal Makes ACC a Player in College Football

The ACC’s 12-year deal with the Orange Bowl could not come at a more opportune time.

The Big 12 and SEC agreed to have its champions play in the Champions Bowl. The Pac 12 and Big Ten already have their partnership with the Rose Bowl. Suddenly the talk wasn’t if there will be four super conferences, but WHEN it would happen.

The ACC found itself on the outside looking in. Now Florida State became vocal about the ACC’s TV deal with ESPN. Clemson then join in the foray, saying it will explore its options on conferences. FSU and Clemson were becoming the scorned chicks at the ball, similar to how Texas A&M felt before it announced its intention to leave the Big 12 for the SEC last season.

“Death to the ACC” was the prevailing message, right? Not with this deal with the Orange Bowl.

Before you guys start cracking on how the ACC will be the death of the Orange Bowl, let me point out a few things:

If the ACC has a team in the four-team playoff, it would get to send its second-best team to the Orange Bowl. This ensures that at the very least the ACC will still get its boatload of cash for the next 12 years.

If the ACC has TWO teams in the playoff (unlikely scenario but bear with me), it would STILL get to send a team to the Orange Bowl.

The ACC and Orange Bowl gets to sell their game to the highest bidder. ESPN will get the first crack, but if NBC, Fox, or CBS gets in on the bidding (and they will), look the hell out (mo’ money, mo’ money, mo’ money).

No one is going to confuse the ACC with the SEC – and for that matter, the Big 10. But the ACC knows that a seat at the big boy table requires the following: a major bowl tie-in and the money that comes with it.

So now we officially have a “Big Five” (SEC, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac 12 and ACC) in major college football. To paraphrase Mark Twain, “reports of the ACC’s death have been greatly exaggerated”…